Characters are Kabuto's sidekicks in the Chunin exam if you can't remember.

Enjoy.

Puppet Legend

Chapter 5 - Misumi Tsurugi

Pain coursed through his body, as Naruto collapsed to the ground in exhaustion for the third time that day. He'd been working on the Chakra string technique for the whole week he'd been living in the clearing. Usually he found it difficult to concentrate on one thing for a short amount of time, but this technique had him hooked. He didn't know why, but two hours into his training, when he'd first been able to move a small piece of wood into the air for a few seconds, he'd been enthralled by the technique. He'd been working on it for at least twelve hours each day, spending the rest of his time sleeping, getting food and exercising.

One of the Uchiha books he'd brought with him detailed every possible exercise to help increase physical fitness, strength, agility, speed, Chakra reserves, and Chakra control. Every morning he'd wake up, and spend about an hour in total, tree jumping to the nearest village outside Konoha, hengeing into an ordinary person, buying his supplies for the day, then running home. He'd then spend another hour training his body, then the next hour training his Chakra system.

He'd already managed to climb to the top of the tree he was practicing on, a huge oak, but was working on his speed climbing the tree, and the length of time he could stand on the underside of one of the branches.

Using the book he'd figured out that the reason he hadn't been able to do the simple Bunshin at the academy, was due to his huge chakra reserves, and as the Bunshin required little amounts of Chakra, he was unable to do the move. Now all he needed to do was use his Chakra control training, and modify the amount of Chakra he used when doing the Jutsu.

He had been spending some time increasing his reserves, as even he got tired when he summoned ten Shadow Clones to fight against for a long amount of time, and as he was getting better at defeating them every time, he needed to be able to summon more.

He would make the ten clones after his hour of Chakra training, and fight till he'd destroyed them all. Then after a short pause for lunch, practice the chakra string technique.

So far he'd managed to get the puppet to move a small amount, however not co-ordinated, and nowhere near controlled enough. The technique involved manipulating the chakra in the string, so the string would change shape, and move the object. All ten fingers were needed to control the puppet, however it would take a lot of skill to be able to control al ten at one time. Once this stage was mastered, fewer fingers could be used, but it would be a lot more difficult to direct.

Naruto lay on the ground and watched as a squirrel entered the clearing, and hopped across the ground to within a few meters of where he was lying. Forgetting how tired he was, he cautiously stretched a hand towards the little creature. Quickly making a chakra string on the end of one finger, he extended it to the small creature, then jerked his little finger, and watched as the confused animal flew through the air towards him. He caught the small creature, then released in on the ground grinning to himself.

'Bully.'

"Kyuubi, where are you."

'I thought we'd gone through this?' She asked disbelievingly.

"I mean, why aren't we inside my head, how can you talk to me out here."

'I'm talking to your mind. You can hear me whenever I say anything, the seal's been too strong up till now for anything to get though. This is taking a lot of effort speaking to you like this, so I'll be brief. How many Kage-Bunshin can you make?'

"A couple of hundred I guess, but I can only keep about twenty around for a decent amount of time. Why?"

'I was going to save this till later, but since you're trying that puppet technique, I'll tell you now. When a Shadow Clone is dispelled, the maker learns exactly what the clone has done. What it's seen heard, smelled, whatever.'

"I know that, I've seen the old man Hokage do it loads of times. He says their copies of him, so they'd do the paper work just as good as he would.

'Yes, but has he explained how to use it for training. Whatever the clone does, you will learn when it's dispelled, that means you get all the clones knowledge, just not its physical skills. Therefore it would be pointless to get the clones to work out, however as Chakra control relies a lot on the knowledge required to control and bend the will of your chakra, also learning and practicing Jutsu's. Lots of techniques require trial and improvement for each individual to be able to use them properly. If you do this with your clones it would take a lot of time and energy.

'Cool! What else.' Naruto asked slightly impatiently, eager to learn more about these new secrets of the techniques.

There are other major limitation of the techniques is the information rush from dispelling a clone can often give headaches, and sometimes do permanent brain damage. Therefore you need to be careful about when you dispel the clones. If the clones have been doing mundane tasks, then the effects of this will not be as much than if they'd been reading a book of Jutsu's for example, for the same amount of time. So remember to change any clone that's been around for a long time, and start with a new one, or the information will build up.

'Another neat trick you haven't learnt yet is spreading out different amounts of chakra to different clones. The more added the more force that will be needed to dispel it. Also when you dispel a clone by choice, the remaining chakra the clone has, will return to you, and replenish your supplies. It won't be as much, as some will have been used, however it will still make a difference. '

'I've got to go now. Mess around with the Kage-Bunshin, and not in that way, and keep going with your other training. I'll see you soon.' And before Naruto had a chance to say anything, her voice was gone, and Naruto's mind was once again silent. Not sure what would happen, he thought a thank you to the demon, then set about exploring the Kage-Bunshin.

Over the next few days Naruto didn't fight with his clones in the morning as he did for the last week. Instead, he would summon them the moment he woke up, and then for the rest of the day they'd split up and work on Chakra control, and the Chakra string technique. The real Naruto spent his time doing extra physical work, he started speed work, and more work on expanding his Chakra reserves. At the end of the day, he would remember to dispel the clones with a ten minutes gap between each one, and despite him still getting a headache; Naruto never had any trouble sleeping due to the fatigue that constantly gripped his body.

On the ninth day, Naruto woke up at around seven in the morning as usual, and immediately he could sense something was wrong. He remembered the techniques he'd been learning the day before; sensing other people's chakra. Now he was pretty sure he could sense someone nearby. He wondered how long they'd been there for, whether they'd just arrived, or he had only recently been able to sense them.

There were two sources, as far as he could make out, going off at about ninety degrees to each other into the forest. Naruto climbed to his feet quietly, and crept into the forest towards the person he thought was closest, and found them a few minutes later. He wore a Konoha headband, and a black cloth, covering most of his face, leaving only his glasses covered eyes visible to the watching Naruto.

"Come out already, I can hear you." The ninja said, silently drawing a Kunai from a pouch at his side. Naruto shrugged and jumped down from the tree. He already knew his hiding place would be discovered eventually.

"You're the Kyuubi-brat!" The ninja muttered in shock, then smirked behind his face mask. "My master will be pleased when I bring your tied up body to him."

"Um, whose your master?" Naruto asked. This fellow wasn't acting like your average Konoha Nin.

"The mighty Snake Sannin himself: Orochimaru. Now to make things easy, and stop you from getting spoiled too much, come over here, and I promise not to hurt you too much."

Naruto ignored the guy, quickly making five Kage-Bunshin and sending them into the forest to hide while he was talking. Without answering, he jumped forward, and sent a kick for the man's side. It was easily dodged, but the Kunai to the heart from one of the shadow clones from behind wasn't.

He quickly dispelled the blood covered clone, and looked down at the ninja in disgust. He'd heard rumours about the Snake traitor, and had no remorse about killing one of his supporters.

He was just reaching his hand into the pockets on the man's jacket looking for anything that would identify the ninja, when he felt something hard close around his hand. He tried to pull away, but found it stuck between two smooth solid objects.

"Like my technique. It allows me to move my joints out of their normal positions. I can literally move any part of my body anywhere." He was still lying on the floor, but rolled onto his back, yanking Naruto's hand painfully in the process. "I used my rib cage to move my heart out of the way of your attack just in time to avoid major damage. You caught me off guard last time, but this time you don't stand a chance."

Naruto merely smiled, stabbed into the man with another Kunai, around the spot where his hand was trapped. Feeling it come free, he leapt back putting some space between the two opponents. Immediately locking his hands together in the predictable hand seal, he created four Kage-Bunshin, and sent them at the spy.

The first ran at the man, dodging past a fist, and aimed a punch for the side of his head. His hand was caught by a hideously disfigured shoulder joint intercepting the punch. Not giving the clone a chance to move, he landed a fist in its stomach. The second came from behind, forcing the man to spin round, and trade a few blows before it too was dispelled. The last two jumped in, one on either side and started to attack. One of them managed to graze the side of his head with an elbow, but it seemed the man was having little problems fending off their attacks. Sensing this, one drew back, and threw three shuriken at him.

The unidentified ninja jumped up into the air, easily avoiding the projectiles, and pulled a scroll from his back, before smeared from blood on it. The scroll unravelled, and sent a huge wave of weapons at the two clones, easily dispelling them, then turning to the real Naruto.

The ninja smirked when about five of the weapons hit the blonde, causing him to stagger backwards and collapse to the ground.

"We've been watching your training. You may try hard, but you have no talent. I can understand Orochimaru wanting the Uchiha, but I don't know why he wants someone as worthless…" He stopped, and looked down at his chest to see five Kunai sticking out of him. What have you done?!"

"I had five shadow clones there all alone." Naruto grinned, standing up from his position on the ground, unharmed.

"I would have noticed them…how are you not hurt?" The man asked, collapsing onto his knees in pain.

"I wanted to test out a Genjutsu on you. I may not be able to do them myself, however she can." Naruto motioned to one side where the puppet stood in the shadows, vague outlines of chakra strings connecting the two. "Looks like it was successful, and all that hard work wasn't for nothing, I'll…What's happening?" Naruto asked fearfully as he felt a cold hand touch the back of his head, and he felt some of his Chakra slowly leave his body.

"You've killed my teammate, thanks. It just means I don't have to share the reward money when I get back with you and the Uchiha and Lord Orochimaru will be even more pleased with me. Now let me introduce you to my Chakra stealing technique."

AN: My first fighting scene, even if it is small, so please tell me how I did! Sorry for the wait, see my profile for ongoing excuses.

I love the Snow! Had no lessons for a week :)